News

News: WHO swine flu review committee promises to probe links with drug industry (Jul 08, 2010 01:46 PM)

The chairman of the external expert review committee examining the World Health Organization’s management of the H1N1 pandemic said on 2 July that the panel will probe deeper into allegations that the drug industry may have unduly influenced key outcomes...

News: UK response to H1N1 pandemic was highly satisfactory, independent review says (Jul 06, 2010 11:56 AM)

The United Kingdom’s response to the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, which cost £1.2bn (1.5bn; $1.8bn), was highly satisfactory and good value for money, concludes an independent review. But any purchasing for future pandemics should allow greater flexibility, it adds...

News: Italian auditor criticises contract for H1N1 vaccine (Jul 06, 2010 11:55 AM)

The contract between the drug firm Novartis and Italy’s health ministry over the purchase of 24 million doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine Focetria raises "many perplexities," a report from the Italian Court of Audit (Corte dei Conti) has said...

News: Telephone and internet surveys will improve estimates of flu incidence, experts say (Jun 29, 2010 12:10 PM)

Experts have admitted that accurate predictions of the incidence of the H1N1 flu pandemic in the United Kingdom proved a near impossible challenge...

News: A more severe flu pandemic is as inevitable as "death and taxes" (Jun 29, 2010 12:08 PM)

The next flu pandemic could be more severe than the H1N1 pandemic of 2009, health experts have warned...

News: WHO admits to "inconsistencies" in its policy on conflicts of interest (Jun 16, 2010 10:26 AM)

The World Health Organization has admitted that its policies governing the publication of conflicts of interests of its expert advisers have "inconsistencies" and that safeguards "surrounding engagements with industry" need to be tightened...

News: Australian government says healthy under 5s should not be given seasonal flu jab (Jun 07, 2010 04:15 PM)

Australia’s health authorities have recommended that healthy children under 5 should not be given the seasonal flu jab, after preliminary research showed rates of febrile convulsions nine times higher than expected...

News: Council of Europe condemns "unjustified scare" over swine flu (Jun 07, 2010 04:12 PM)

The Council of Europe has heavily criticised the World Health Organization, national governments, and EU agencies for their handling of the swine flu pandemic...

News: Swine flu pandemic review panel seeks access to confidential documents between WHO and drug companies (May 28, 2010 10:17 AM)

The chairman of the external expert review committee examining the World Health Organization’s management of the H1N1 pandemic said the panel wants access to confidential documents between the agency and drug companies...

News: Former Roche employee questions marketing of oseltamivir to businesses (May 28, 2010 10:38 AM)

A former employee of Roche has questioned the drug company’s sales practices for the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), as well as its efforts to maintain market share and tender for distributors for a broad range of products...

News: Trusts forced to cut services because of costs of swine flu (May 14, 2010 02:20 PM)

Some primary care trusts have had to cut spending on their regular services because of the costs of the recent A/H1N1 flu pandemic, it has been shown. A Freedom of Information Act request by GP newspaper showed that the cost of dealing with the pandemic forced one in six trusts to cut other services...

News: GSK chief defends profits made on back of swine flu crisis (May 04, 2010 04:49 PM)

Andrew Witty, chief executive of global drug company GlaxoSmithKline, has denied accusations that the company profiteered during the swine flu crisis. Last year the company made a pre-tax profit of more than $13bn (£8.5bn; 9.8)...

News: New director of European disease centre defends its role in flu pandemic (May 04, 2010 04:47 PM)

Marc Sprenger, the new director of the Stockholm based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has made it clear that he will not be pushing for the centre’s mandate to be extended to include non-communicable diseases...

News: Australia suspends seasonal flu vaccination of young children (May 04, 2010 04:44 PM)

Australia has extended a suspension of vaccination of children aged 5 years and under against seasonal flu, pending further investigations into an apparent spike in febrile convulsions associated with the vaccine...

News: Hospital stays for young adults with flu shot up in England in 2009 (Apr 28, 2010 04:48 PM)

Hospitalisation rates for young adults with influenza were 37 times higher in the autumn of 2009—when the H1N1 strain was predominant—than for the same period in the previous year, the latest figures for hospitals in England show...

News: External committee is to look at criticisms of WHO’s management of H1N1 pandemic (Apr 28, 2010 04:43 PM)

An evaluation of the World Health Organization’s management of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic will include an examination of the criticisms levelled at the agency, an interim report by an external expert review committee says...

News: Department of Health agrees deal with GSK to cancel part of swine flu vaccine order (Apr 15, 2010 02:34 PM)

The Department of Health in England announced that it has agreed with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to cap its order for the company’s swine flu (H1N1) vaccine, saving about one third of the value of the original order that it placed for enough vaccine to protect the entire UK population...

News: Out of hours services would need to expand in more severe flu pandemic (Mar 22, 2010 04:41 PM)

A lack of capacity in out of hours services means that GPs in England would struggle to cope if a more severe wave of pandemic flu were to occur, speakers said at a pandemic summit at the Royal College of General Practitioners in London on 18 March...

News: Head of WHO’s vaccines advisory group defends its policy on competing interests (Mar 19, 2010 05:02 PM)

The chief who oversees the World Health Organization’s top advisory group on global vaccines has defended the oversight mechanism that guards against potential conflicts of interest among its members...

Letter: English mortality from A/H1N1: Comparisons with recent flu mortality (Feb 02, 2010 05:07 PM)

How do the number of deaths from pandemic A/H1N1 compare with influenza related mortality in recent years?...